Maoists kill 3, injure 7 in Chhattisgarh

CPI-Maoist rebels swooped on the forested Iptagura village and shot dead two tribals on Friday.

Maoists killed three civilians and injured seven, including four policemen, in two incidents in violence-hit Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, police said on Saturday.

Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) rebels swooped on the forested Iptagura village, 552 km south of Raipur, and shot dead two tribals on Friday for allegedly supporting anti-insurgency operations, Dantewada district police chief Praveer Das said on phone.

The second incident took place in the Bhatwara area of Bhairamgarh, 456 km south of Raipur. Seven people were injured when a police team touched a body lying on a road not knowing that a bomb was attached to it.

"Police reached Bhatwara area late evening on Friday to recover a body lying on the road. As soon as they touched it, a pressure bomb attached to it went off, injuring seven people, including four special police officers, three of them seriously," Bastar range Inspector General MW Ansari said.

Police said 55 troopers of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and dozens of local policemen had cordoned off a 12-km forested stretch near Bhairamgarh and launched a combing operation early on Saturday.